PAGE 12A Laredo Morning Times Sunday, March 1, 1998
National/Entertainment
Character actor Freed couple to stay apart
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) - A couple split up for in Cabell County court on Feb. 17, and Ms. Fletcher
Walsh dies
LA MESA, Calif. (AP) - Actor challenged men, such as Lt. Col.
nine months while they were jailed on murder
charges in the Caribbean have decided to stay apart.
James and Penny Fletcher were freed from jail in
St. Vincent in August after the charges against
filed a countersuit.
“I think when something like that happens, it either
makes you closer or drives a wedge between you,”
Ms. Fletcher said. “In this case, it drove a wedge
them were dismissed. Fletcher, 50, filed for divorce between us.”
J.T. Walsh, one of Hollywood’s Matthew Markinson in 1992’s “A
top character actors who played Few Good Men” and Sgt. Maj.
Jack Nicholson’s suicidal lieu- Dickerson in 1987’s “Good
tenant colonel in “A Few Good Morning, Vietnam.”
Men” and a mental patient in Walsh - who lived in the Los
“Sling Blade,” died of a heart Angeles area with his son, TV
attack Friday. He was 54. production assistant John West -
Walsh died at Grossmont recently appeared in
Hospital after falling ill at a San “Breakdown,” playing a bad guy
Diego-area resort hotel Friday opposite Kurt Russell.
morning, said his publicist, In 1996, he portrayed a mental
Cynthia Snyder. patient in Billy Bob Thornton’s J.T. WALSH
“He was just on holiday,” she acclaimed “Sling Blade.” Dead at 54
said. “The paramedics came and Walsh recently completed work His big break came when he was
weren’t able to revive him.” on “Pleasantville” with Jeff cast in another Mamet play,
Walsh worked as an encyclope- Daniels and Joan Allen and “The “Glengarry Glen Ross,” on
dia salesman, a junior high school Negotiator” with Samuel L. Broadway in 1984. The role brought
teacher, a social worker and a Jackson. him to the attention of Hollywood
reporter before becoming a full- Walsh, who had been active in casting agents, and he moved to Los
time actor at 31. community theater, was discov- Angeles four years later.
As a child, Walsh, who was born ered by a director in 1974 and In just over a decade, Walsh
in San Francisco, attended a began working in off-Broadway appeared in more than two dozen
Jesuit boarding school in Ireland. shows. He met playwright David films, including “Nixon,” “Hoffa,”
A graduate of the University of Mamet in 1976 and won a role in “Tequila Sunrise,” “Backdraft,”
Rhode Island, Walsh became the first performance of “Blue Chips,” “Wired” and “Red
known for portraying ethically “American Buffalo.” Rock West.”
Clinton takes vacation break
for fund-raiser, California look
BY SANDRA SOBIERAJ and not be spotted. Except for the Democratic party as so-called
Associated Press Writer Secret Service trailing behind, you “soft money,” unregulated money
can pretty well be invisible.” meant to be used in “party-build-
PARK CITY, Utah - President Despite the last-minute switch to ing” projects.
Clinton was taking a brief pause Utah, Clinton was honoring his The president’s fund-raising
from his family’s Utah ski vacation promise to Boxer, whose daugh- appearance came one day after
Saturday to honor a political fund- ter is married to Clinton’s brother- he asked two regulatory agencies
raising commitment in California in-law. to end the “fund-raising arms
and assess flood-relief efforts there. The president also was meeting race” by banning the unregulated
It was no small task to break away. at Los Angeles International “soft money” that flows by the mil-
With a press pool in tow, the presi- Airport with local officials cleaning lions to national political parties
dent had to motorcade out of the up after disastrous El Nino-driven from corporations, labor unions
Wasatch Mountains to Salt Lake storms. White House aides said and individuals.
City, where Air Force One waited to Clinton, who consoled tornado
shuttle the entourage to Los victims Wednesday in Florida,
Angeles for the four-hour visit. added the meeting so as not to
Clinton had pledged to headline give short shrift to Californians
Sen. Barbara Boxer’s $500,000 whose homes and businesses
Beverly Hills fund-raiser when have been destroyed by flooding
earlier plans had him scheduled and mudslides.
to be a few hours north of Los At the Beverly Hills home of
Angeles at Stanford University, supermarket-chain mogul Ron
where his daughter Chelsea is a Burkle, around 100 donors -
freshman. including actors Danny DeVito,
She opted instead for Utah, Whoopi Goldberg, Ted Danson
where she and her mother skied and Paul Reiser - were asked to
the Deer Valley resort in relative give $5,000 per person. Boxer’s
anonymity. November re-election campaign
“Skiing is the sport for celebrities,” was to get the first $2,000 of each
said fellow skier Randy Sanders, of donation, the legal limit for an
San Diego, who did not spot individual candidate.
Chelsea or Mrs. Clinton on the The balance of Saturday night’s
slopes. “You can get all covered up proceeds would benefit the